Escape the Ordinary....

For this assignment, I chose to read the article titled, "Why Giving Effective Feedback is Trickier Than It Seems" written by Katrina Schwartz. This is a link to the article! In the article, they quote Susan Brookhart who says, "The job of feedback is to meet the student where they are and give them what they need to take their next steps." I found this quote particularly useful. You have to meet them where they are. There is no baseline or general start place that you can use as a guide. You have to assess the student or employee, where they are currently at. If you don't, then the feedback may not be effective. She talks about how many teachers try and give one round of feedback and give them everything that they need right then. Even if there are large gaps in performance. It tells that feedback is an ongoing thing and may take many rounds to accomplish that goals that you have set forth. It says to praise their strengths and then point out one or two thing...

Title: Ending Source: Wikimedia Commons For this week’s picture, I googled ending and this is what came up. There were lots of pictures of sunsets. I found this quite appropriate for my last Famous Last Words post. It’s as if the sun is setting on this semester and it’s very bittersweet. I have enjoyed this class immensely, but I’ll be glad to be done with it. The coursework for this class is quite hefty and I was not prepared mentally to be as creative and write as much as was required. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t struggle in this class this semester to keep up. However, I have learned so much and seen some really cool things. I have also discovered that my fellow classmates are so creative and there are so many different personalities out there. From Star Wars Weapons to WWII stories to things told from a gossip columnist point of view, there was never a dull read in this class. I have also been very blessed to have classmates that had such positive things to say abo...

For this assignment, I chose to finish up the Jataka tales about Buddha. Eastern Stories and Legends by Shedlock. A link to the stories can be found here . 1. The Crow That Thought It Knew This story is about the Buddha that is reborn as a crow. There was a great famine in the land and all the crows left the area. One crow left to go to the area where the Buddha lived. He saw the Buddha crow dive under the water and catch fish for it's meal. The crow that came to the area thought it would be good to be a servant of this crow that he too could have food to eat. Then the crow was not happy with the arrangement so he thought he could catch his own fish. Viraka, the Buddha fish, warned him that he was not meant to dive into the water like that and that he would not be successful in his ventures. The other crow did not listen to Viraka and drown trying to catch his own fish in the water. 2. The River-Fish and The Money This story is about Buddha born into a wealthy family. He went...

For this assignment, I decided to continue my reading on Buddha and read some more of Eastern Stories and Legends by Shedlock. A link to these stories can be found here . 1. The Hawk and the Osprey This is a story about a male hawk who married a female hawk and she told him that they needed friends to protect them. She recommended the Osprey, the Lion and the Tortoise. One day, there were men in the area and they were going to roast the hawk's babies for dinner. They called upon the osprey and he came and put out the fire of the men several times to distract them from getting the baby birds. Then when the osprey was tire, they called upon the tortoise to help. He gathered mud from the lake and also put out the fire several times to distract the men from getting the hawk's babies. Then, once the tortoise was tired, they called upon the lion. The lion roared and the men ran away. And they lived happily ever after. I think this story is a wonderful telling of true friendship...

This week I decided to to the happiness jar challenge. I thought this would be something excellent to do at the very end of the semester when things start to be the most stressful. So for this week, I'm going to write something down each day that makes me happy. And by the end of the week, I'll go back and reread all the things I have put into the jar. I'd like to sit and reflect on each one and remember that my days are good. I think this will be really helpful too since this week is Thanksgiving! I need to be reminded of all the things I'm thankful for anyway, so this will be the perfect challenge. Picture of my husband and I taken from my phone. We were supposed to pick a picture that inspires us. This picture is of me and my husband this summer. We took the kids to Mexico and stayed at a resort for a week. It was one of the best weeks we've had in a long time. I chose this picture because at the end of the day, he is what makes me the happiest. He suppo...

The article I read for the growth mindset was titled Top 11 Signs That You're A Perfectionist. The article is a part of a series that is written by Celestine Chua. The link to it can be found here . 1. No room for mistakes - this is definitely something that I struggle with. If I see a mistake, I can't just let it be. Sometimes this is good (especially in the line of work that I do) and other times it would be best if I just let it go. 2. Very specific manner in which things should be done - HA! This is me to a T! It says that people often have difficulties working with people like this. I find this true as well. I like things done a certain way and if it's not done that way, it really bothers me. Typically I find myself just doing everything because I will end up going back to redo someone else's work if I work in a group. I just find it easier to do it myself up front. 3. All-or-nothing approach - This partially fits me. It says you either do it all or do nothin...

For this assignment I decided to do another Canvas tip. This time I read over all the information about the dashboard portion.  Surprisingly, I knew most of the things it had to say. The first semester I was here, I had never used Canvas before, so I clicked ALL the buttons to try and figure out how to get into my class! I had a teacher that used ONLY Canvas for pretty much everything. I know a lot of other professors use it just to facilitate tracking of grades and as a place to keep a link for another platform used. However, now that I know I can create to do items on my task list, it will be helpful to track all the information in canvas on the calendar and then in card view on the dashboard. The one thing I did learn though is that you can create nicknames for your courses. This is helpful for this semester in particular. For some reason, my intermediate accounting I course had a really long complicated name. So being able to change the name to something shorter was very ...

Well of course for the video I had to watch the one that uses food to teach grammar! If you want to watch this video too, you can find the link here! One thing I learned from this video is that if two or more words are used before a noun to describe that noun, then they need to be hyphenated. I ALWAYS get this wrong. But the way they explained it was pretty simple and easy to remember. I also learned that there are two types of compliments (complements) I had no idea! Another thing that I learned is the difference between fewer and less. They say if you can count it, then use fewer, if you can't, use less. I don't know that I've ever used fewer in a sentence other than these few right here. Although the acting was TERRIBLE in this video, it was pretty entertaining and I learned quite a few things from it. Patrick I picked this picture because I have been struggling with this so much this week and trying to get my assignments done! Anything and everything ...

Title: Pumpkin Pie Source: Flickr I chose this image because pumpkin pie is  my favorite thing about Thanksgiving! Two weeks left! Where has this semester gone? I feel like it went by so fast. Faster than any other semester has gone before. I guess I should be thankful for that, but at the same time, I feel like I’m no prepared for the end of it! For my reading this week I decided to look at some stories of Buddha. I think this was the name I recognized the most coming into this class. However, I knew nothing about him really. So, I think it was interesting to learn a little bit more about the Buddha. This week I wrote a new story based off the Giant Crab story. I had a hard time being creative this week so I really don’t think that the story is up to par with the rest of the stories that I have written this semester. However, I did at least do it. And there is something there. I find it hard to write less than 1000 words for these stories. I don’t know how people c...

It was Friday night and Ellie didn’t feel up to going out. He friends begged and pleaded with her to go with them. It was their routine to go out every Friday night and cruise the bars, hoping to pick up the boy crush. Ellie felt tired and withdrawn today. How many nights could so go out in a tiny dress, flirt with a stranger, and hope that this would be the one? She knew this wouldn’t be the way to meet prince charming, but she obliged her friends anyway. They arrived at their destination and it was packed. They had to maneuver their way up to the bar to order drinks. There was barely enough room to stand, let along breathe. Ellie had all but resolved herself for a long night when she saw him from across the bar. He was startling. His hair the color of honeyed whiskey, his eyes crystal blue and his smile shone as bright as the sun. For a brief moment, all the sounds around her stopped and all she could hear was her shallow breathing and her heart beating out a staccato rhyth...

For this assignment I chose to continue reading the Eastern Stories and Legends by Sheldock which can be found here . 1. The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment This is a story about a bull who was given to a Brahmin. The Brahmin raised it very well and treated the animal as if it were his son. When the bull was grown and strong, it wanted to do something to repay his owner. So he told the brahmin to bet the neighbor 1000 (whichever currency they used) that he, the bull, could pull 100 carts. The brahmin did so, but when it came time to pull them, he called the bull names. The bull didn't like this so he just sat there. When the bull talked to the master, he explained to him that he had never done anything wrong so he didn't understand why he would call him names. So the bull told him to bet 2000 and he would win it for him as long as he no longer called him names. The brahmin this time called him his beauty and the bull pulled the 100 carts and won the brahmin his money back ...

For this reading assignment I chose to read Eastern Stories and Legends by Shedlock. Which can be found here . 1. The Hare That Ran Away This is based off the Foolish Timid Rabbit. I did The Chase story based off this. I did find it interesting to read this version though. In the original, the Earth was breaking apart but in this version the Earth is falling in. The do keep to original theme of fruit falling from the tree though and that is what scared the hare. I also thought it was interesting that in this version of the story they tell the lion to be Buddha. I think this brings an interesting perspective to the lion character and explains a little how he could remain so calm and be so wise when all the other animals were panicking. 2. The Monkey and Crocodile This is the story of the crocodile that tricked to trick the monkey so that he could kill him and give the monkey's heart to his wife. In the end, the monkey outwitted the crocodile and told him that his heart was han...

For this assignment I chose to read the Life of Buddha by Ferdinand Herold. Which can be found here! The first story is of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya. The king is described as a good king that is kind and gentle to his subjects. The queen is the embodiment of all things good and wonderful. The story goes on to tell a tale of how the queen asked the king for a favor. Because there was so much suffering in the world, she wanted to live in the tower high above the city and there she would surround herself with lovely things. She would be abstinent and live there forever. The king granted her favor, but promised to always be kind to those who needed it. She went up to the tower and life was good. I feel like this could be told in so many different ways. How someone sacrifices themselves for the good of all people. Maybe could do a war story for this one? Or like a battle scene?  The next story is Maya's dream. This tells about how she has a dream that she is pregnant, but wit...

Holy smokes! Less than 3 weeks of school left! Where has the time gone?!?!? I'm so ready for the semester to be done, but not ready just yet because I'm still a little behind. For this week, I chose the image of the JK Rowling saying about stories. The last week has been particularly rough for me personally, so I have enjoyed kind of letting some of that stress out through stories. I think this was supposed to be for the readers, but I took it as the writing part of the story can transport you to another place. It was a great outlet for me this week. I realized how much I really do enjoy writing. Source: Blogspot A link to the video I watched can be found here . This video talked about the Power to Create. It pointed out that being creative doesn't mean just the arts. But rather, it means how you live you life and how you take every opportunity and turn it into something better. While I don't agree with the socialism undertones of the video, I did think that ...

Famous Last Words…… I think these have become my favorite assignments. They give me a chance to reflect and review how my progress has gone. I think it’s good for me to do a weekly check in as the semester is so close to being over. This week, I had an accounting test. I got an 89% on it. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but pretty dang good considering I did not study as much as I had intended to. I feel since dropping the two other classes I had this semester, it’s more manageable to finish out the semester strong. To me, the grades are more important than the graduation date. I’m still on the fence if I’m going to apply for the Master’s program yet, so I need everything on my side for when it’s crunch time. For this class, I have 106 points left to earn to get an A. I have 122 points available that I can earn. So…in theory I might actually be able to get an A in this class. I know it’s not supposed to be about the grade, but more the learning experience, but I need all t...

This week I decided to do the tech tip on the Canvas calendar. I had clicked on it a few times, but didn't really pay much attention to it. However, after looking at the video, this will be an AMAZING resource to use to better plan out my time. I wish I had known about this earlier in the semester. It will definitely come in handy for future semesters. My favorite feature of it is that you can add your own events to it. This will really help me because then I can add my work schedule on there with my class assignments. Since I don't have a traditional work schedule, I have difficulties sometimes finding a balance between school, work and home life. This would be better to have it all laid out in one thing. I have about 20 different calendars I use, both digital and paper, to help keep track of things. This could help streamline my planning. I also really really like that you can export it to an existing calendar format. I use outlook for work and personal stuff, so this mak...

For this assignment, I chose to watch the Epified videos, The Seven Secrets of the Goddess. Which can be found here . Theses videos are by  Devdutt Pattanaik. Gaia's Secret Part 1 Gaia is the earth mother in Greek mythology. A maid to Renas, the god of the stary sky. In order for her son to be born, she had to castrate the father. From the blood drops of the castration, Aphrodite was born. As well as the Arineas, the goddesses of retribution. Gaia's son, Kronos, took over as king. He ate all his children so that they would not overthrown his reign. However, Gaia saved a son, Zeus, from being killed by Kronos. Zeus kills him and takes over ruling the gods from Mount Olympus. It then goes on to tell another story of Sedna and her father. They are in a boat and are attacked by seagulls. To save himself, he throws his daughter overboard. When she tries to climb back in, he cuts off her fingers. When she tries again, he cuts off her arm. (Okay, at this point, I'm thinking w...

She lay wide awake, staring at the ceiling in frustration. The rough sheets scraped across her skin, just barely hiding the fact her mattress was made of straw. The cool night air felt crisp against her exposed skin. The nightgown she wore was tattered and old. The promise of fall lingered in the air and she could almost feel the leaves changing. She should be thankful the heat had finally broke, but she couldn’t quiet her thoughts long enough to notice the change. Sleep escaped her that night. High up in the servant’s tower, it was all she could to but replay the last twelve hours of her life. Over and over and over again. “Constance! Why don’t you ever listen to me? This is not open for discussion!” “But mother, I don’t understand WHY you won’t let me marry him” “Just trust me in this. You cannot and will not marry Elias Fletcher!” “That is not good enough! You have always said that when my love knows no boundaries and my heart is overfilled with joy, this, thi...

For this assignment, I chose to watch the Epified Krisha videos Part B You can find a list of these here ! 11. Krishna Humbles Brahma This one talks about how Krishna was eating with his friends by the lake. When Brahma saw this, he didn't understand. He then kidnapped Krishna's friends and all the cows. Krishna then recreated his friends and the cows from himself so that the villagers wouldn't be upset. A year had gone by and when Brahma returned, he saw all the Krishna was capable of. He then dropped to his knees and asked Krishna for his forgiveness. 12. Krishna Rides Hastin In this story, Hastin is the bull in town that everyone is scared of. Krishna says that he is going to ride the bull by the end of the month. No one believes him. Krishna spends the next month in the stables with the bull everyday. He gets closer and closer and even feeds the bull treats. At the end of the month, Krishna is able to get close enough to get on the bull and ride him. The village...